The last fifty years have been marked by tremendous advances in recreational craft that enable a growing number of people to enjoy the outdoors with many of the pleasures and accommodations of home. In particular, advances in recreational vehicles of both the land and water types have resulted in more affordable and efficient crafts. Many of these craft are quite comfortable with enjoyable and very functional arrangements for cooking, bathing, sleeping and entertaining.
There continues to be demand for improvements in vehicles which can be used as a fishing boat or excursion boat and provide some accommodations similar to a camper or a houseboat. Such multi-functional products can satisfy needs of the many recreational enthusiasts who desire to have available on an outing a watercraft that offers comfort, convenience and functionality. On the other hand, when functions of two or more products are combined to provide one product, with intent to serve both purposes, compromises are sometimes necessary. It is not unusual for the resulting product to have limitations not present in one of the two independent products. In the past, numerous solutions have been proposed to meet the demand for an overnight watercraft. However, such products have limited the quality of some features or the functional performance of other features to what some users may consider unsatisfactory.
For example, in order to comply with common over-the-road trailering requirements (in the absence of special permitting) the width of such units is limited to 8 feet and six inches. To accommodate the functional conveniences needed for living in the unit the length will commonly exceed 25 feet. A disadvantage resulting from the minimal width, or from the proportion of width to length, is instability when the unit functions as a water vessel. Indeed, efforts have been made to assure greater stability when these multi-functional units are placed on water in order to reduce the risk of capsizing, and some solutions to address this problem have been commercialized. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,598 incorporated herein by reference, which discloses a trailerable houseboat/camper unit having pontoons which may be moved to the top (i.e., the roof) of the unit during trailering in order to reduce the vehicle width.
By way of further example, it is well known that trailerable house boats and campers may become unstable at high roadway speeds due to wind loading. High profiles may detract from fuel economy, but to some extent energy inefficiency is accepted as a trade-off in order to avoid costly, time consuming or complex mechanical arrangements. To a limited extent these problems have been addressed with collapsible/expandable interconnecting walls, analogous to those provided in a pop-up style camper. See, for example, U.S. Patent Application Pub. No.: US 2002/0134295 A1 incorporated herein by reference.
In addition, to meet price points in those markets in which such products are offered, a balance is struck between the variables of efficiency or economy and the variables of comfort or convenience. While it is often technically possible to provide attractive appointments and optimal features, it is a desire in the art to make such available at more affordable prices. It is also desirable to provide such features with simplicity and without adding inconvenience to the user.
There is now provided an improved boat camper. According to exemplary embodiments of the invention, the unit can be efficiently placed on a trailer for towing by a vehicle. The boat camper serves as a camper while on the ground or when placed on water. Thus, the unit provides features found in a dedicated houseboat of comparable size.